“Survivor’s stories, though each very different, generally begin with haunting similarity — “I saw a bright flash” or “I was knocked unconscious,” and always include the obligatory, “I was X kilometers from the hypocenter,” a figure describing the speaker’s physical proximity to the middle of hell on earth.”
Client: Setouchi Reflection Trip, the official travel guide to the Setouchi Region of Japan.
Project Description: Write a travel advertorial with photographs.
A Quote
“Survivor’s stories, though each very different, generally begin with haunting similarity — “I saw a bright flash” or “I was knocked unconscious,” and always include the obligatory, “I was X kilometers from the hypocenter,” a figure describing the speaker’s physical proximity to the middle of hell on earth.”
The Inside Scoop
I love writing about this town, and this article provided a great opportunity.
That said, this was probably the most difficult piece I ever wrote. What you see on the page at SRT is my third complete draft, and it was a battle to get it all on the page.
Why the huge challenge?
Two reasons.
The first was finding a good interviewee. At first I was set up with reps from the museum. And as awesome as those folks are, they’re city employees and can’t provide any answers which amount to speculation. They can recite facts and point to resources. My interview with them, while kindly and informative in its own right, proved utterly useless for the purposes of this article.
Fortunately, a friend hooked me up with Yamaoka-san, and everything fell into place from there. She just told me her mother’s A-bomb testimony, and I wove some of the principle details into a narrative of visiting the Peace Park such that each monument I visit reflects on a relevant part of her tale. I think it works well.
The second reason I busted my ass with this piece was that my first drafts were full of detail, but lacked emotion — probably I was protecting myself from the subject matter — and as a result my initial drafts read like pages torn from a history book. To much brain, not enough heart.
But I kept at it and at last managed to dig into something deeper.
Truth be told, I’m actually quite proud of this piece. My editor said that, out of the 80 or so articles we cranked out for this gig, it was the best among them. Maybe he was just saying that to make me feel better about how hard I worked on it. But either way, I feel like I achieved some solid writing here, and will always consider it one of my best pieces.
My Favorite Part
Wiring about Hiroshima is its own reward.
See the results:
Hope Amidst the Ruins – a Visit to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
